For the second time, Croatia’s Adris Group has failed in its bid to increase the ownership share in the Slovenian insurance company Sava Re.
The Slovenian regulator of the insurance market has rejected another attempt by the Croatia’s Adris Group to increase its share in the Slovenian insurance company Sava Re, according to Delo daily from Ljubljana, reports tportal.hr on August 23, 2017.
Adris Group’s request to increase its current share from about 20 percent to approximately 33 percent, just below the takeover threshold, was considered at the beginning of the week by the expert advisory committee of the Agency for the Insurance Market Supervision (AZN), which has refused to give its consent. Delo says that the reasons for such a decision are not yet publicly known.
The opponents of the increase in Adris’ share in the ownership structure of Sava Re included the Slovenian State Holding (SDH), which manages the state property portfolio, as well as members of the regulatory body close to the Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar’s party, who voted against the proposal, according to the leading Slovenian daily.
It was the second attempt by Adris to increase its stake in Sava Re to about 33 percent. Last year, the request for share increase was submitted together with Croatia Osiguranje (Croatia Insurance) company but was also rejected.
According to the Slovenian media at the time, the Slovenian agency stated that Croatia Osiguranje was too exposed to Croatian state bonds and that the fact could represent a potential source of risk for the Slovenian insurance market.
The largest share of Sava Re is held by the Slovenian government, about 40 percent.
According to the Slovenian State Property Management Strategy, its proprietary portfolio in Sava Re is not considered as a strategic, but as an “important” investment. This means that the state ownership in the company cannot fall to less than 25 percent and that no other owner can acquire a stake larger than the one that belongs to the state.
Translated from tportal.hr.
